Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Part Ten: Close Calls
The velvet green landscape of the park had boiled away to be replaced by a haunting darkness, as Copy-chan succumbed to the overpowering effects of the Sake of Love. Her body, highly aroused by a suicide cocktail of aphrodisiacs slipped to her by Kuno, was going into shock from the addition of that extremely alcoholic potion. She was already well disconnected from reality when Kuno noticed that she had passed out and stopped to administer another helping of sexual stimulants and the rest of the potion, in the hopes of getting her fired up again. The sensation of his hands closing around her neck, trying to massage her throat into swallowing, opened a door into an untapped portion of her inherited psyche. The nightmare which unfolded surrounded her with steep, exotic mountains and a misty, spring riddled valley. The same image had flitted through her mind when Ranma explained his trip to Jusenkyo and how he had received his curse. Not that she could really think about it, because in this nightmare a large and powerful man was doing his very best to strangle her while tearing her clothes away.
She found herself struggling against defilement and unconsciousness.
She sensed that she was not alone in her predicament. Nearby, other women were being assaulted by the significantly larger group of men they had stumbled across in their attempt to flee from one ambush, only to stumble right into another. A riot of voices, male and female, shouting and screaming in Mandarin, offered her the only hint of what was going on, as her vision went black. Mere moments away from passing out and becoming defenseless against rape, the man atop of her was roughly jerked away.
"Idiot! The prince wants Fa Shen intact!"
"I just wanted some fun before we kill her," the man complained, bitterly, nursing a bruised jaw.
"We need a virgin for the sacrifice, moron!"
Copy-chan rolled onto her side, gasping and blinking as she tried to regain her senses. The sound of Mandarin seemed long familiar, but she was not used to any of it making sense. As she wondered how she could understand the voices, she found herself wishing she had been left ignorant of her fate. Before she could pull herself together, the new man kicked her in the gut.
"Get up, Fa Shen! It's time for you to pay for your tribe's crime!"
A group of men stormed over as she curled on her side in pain. One of them leaned close to the man who kicked her and exchanged a few whispers, as the rest of the group grabbed her and dragged her to her feet. She managed to focus her eyes and look up. The man who kicked her had an oddly feline cast to his features. His deference in speech and manner suggested that the individual conferring with him was the aforementioned prince. She focused on the prince, taking in his elegant and exotic features. He looked positively draconian. Past him, she could make out a young man scowling at her. His resemblance to her was astonishing, but only because it was less—or if you considered the hair, more—perfect than that of Copy-kun, or Ranma in his true form. The prince beckoned to the men holding her to drag her along as he approached the man she was studying.
"Lo Shen, would you care to say anything to your little sister before we proceed?" the prince addressed the red haired man as he approached.
"What interest have I in the my traitorous mother's bastard!" he declared hotly, turning his shoulder to her. The prince laughed and gestured again at the men. Copy-chan was surprised as those men began wrapping ropes, with heavy stone weights at their ends, around her body. She finally found her voice.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Replacing that which was destroyed, child!" the prince was suddenly in her face. His hands reached up to caress her face. "May your beauty and fire pass on to those who will be blessed by your grave."
She blinked in surprised confusion. "What?"
The men holding her dragged her around to face what her "brother" had been studying before her arrival. It was a freshly dug spring. She had a moment to wonder what was going on. Then it hit her. They were going to drown her, make a new cursed spring. "Wait! Don't do this!"
"It is already done," the prince laughed as the men behind Copy-chan shoved her hard. She braced her feet, forcing the men to try harder. "You should have accepted my proposal. Now, I will have to make do with just your likeness. Goodbye, Fa Shen." Annoyed by her resistance, one of the men kicked at the back of her knees to break her footing. Copy-chan gasped for breath as she hurtled toward the cold waters of death. It was hard not to waste breath screaming in shock and outrage. As she sank to the depths, she struggled against her bonds, desperate to escape this abominable fate. Unfortunately, her exertion only depleted oxygen faster. The water was absorbed into the ropes making them stronger, making her even own unusual strength useless. Just as she realized that she was going to die, another part of her mind suddenly understood that she had been dead for a long time.
As the nightmare came to it's conclusion, Ryouga, startled and staring on in horror as the convulsions stopped and she became still, crouched down and tried to find her pulse. While he fanned himself in celebration at witnessing "Ranma's" death, Ranma and Kuno blundered through, fighting.
While Ryouga slowly realized who lay dying before him, all other thoughts left his mind. While he struggled to untangle the girl before him from the person he otherwise might love to watch die—in theory if not in fact—he completely forgot what he was doing there in the park, and whom he was intended to be with. Unfortunately, Akari Unryuu had no other thoughts on her mind. Past encounters with the lost boy had taught her that a great deal of patience and effort were required in order to actually meet him. That said, she had begun to learn how to detect clues to her ideal man's presence. Just follow the sounds of demolition and conflict, and there was a good chance Ryouga would be at the source. For that reason, she had been riding Katsunishiki, her champion sumo pig, around the outskirts of the park.
At that moment, Akari and Katsunishiki were racing down the sidewalk at that end of the park. Katsunishiki paused and turned as he heard the sounds of Ranma and Kuno's battle and squealed to his master in excitement. Akari perked her ears toward the park, and slid down from the giant sumo pig's back, wondering if Ryouga had met one of his friends. With a strange grin, she reminded herself that the group of martial artists, particularly Ranma, was incomprehensibly drawn to conflict, and Ryouga's behavior became the most incomprehensible when any of that group became involved. Sighing, Akari cut into the park to see what the fighting was all about.
Ryouga was kneeling beside Ranma's twin, coming out of his stupor. "Copy-chan," he breathed. At once, his gallant streak seized him. He could not let this girl die just because of his grudge with Ranma. He started doing CPR, and the force of his chest compressions popped the obstructions out her mouth. Ryouga steeled his nerve to clamp his mouth over hers and give her breath between compressions.
For roughly two minutes, the circulation of blood had been arrested in Copy-chan's body. More than enough time to die, but not quite enough for brain damage to begin. The first rush of blood into her cranium flushed out poisonous levels of carbon-dioxide, and brought a hint of oxygen to spark synapses. The euphoric tingle of suffocation, so similar to drowning, rose in a painful crescendo as her body clamored for the return of her soul. The first breath of air from Ryouga's lungs entered like a warm wind, washing away the cold chill of a long forgotten death. The nightmare dissolved around her, as Copy-chan was drawn back. The doors opened by her trauma slipping closed once more. The feel of warm lips on hers was more urgent than remembering to lock those doors behind her, as she awoke to her body's arousal. As full consciousness returned to the her, the love potion kicked in and she wrapped her arms around Ryouga, turning the kiss of life into a kiss of passion.
Naturally, that was when Akane dragged the unconscious, paralyzed Copy-kun into the clearing in search of Ranma. Equally well timed, Akari and her giant pig entered the clearing from the other direction and froze.
The lost boy was helpless before the passion of Copy-chan's kiss. It did not help that he had just cleared the hurdle of distinguishing her as a separate entity from Ranma, and a real girl to boot. He had also just corrected the memory of his first kiss, attributing it to her instead of Ranma. He could hardly be blamed then, after having failed to express his appreciation of that first kiss, for trying to make up for it whole-heartedly now. His arms slipped around her, and he pulled her up, practically into his lap, as he found it in him to return the kiss with interest. After a long, breathless moment, the girl had to part for air or risk passing out again. The lost boy leaned back, a wide grin on his face, blinking in wonder. At the third or fourth blink, he noticed others were present. Looking left and right, he saw the last two people he could bear to confront at a moment like this. Ryouga froze and shattered in the girl's iron grip.
Akane and Akari turned and departed, shock evident on their faces.
Ryouga plummeted suddenly from the height of bliss to the depths of despair. Reeling back, he let out a shout of utter betrayal, unwittingly unleashing his ultimate Shishihokodan. Copy-chan, clinging to the lost boy for dear life, felt the horrible weight of grief spilling out of the boy, hurtling straight up into the air above them before crashing down on everything at that end of the park, crushing the barely revived girl back into unconsciousness. Ryouga was oblivious to the sphere of destruction, until he saw the girl he had just revived sprawled on the ground, the last of her tattered clothes blasted away by his chi attack. He didn't trust himself to touch her, but risked two fingers on her neck to make sure he had not undone his effort to save her. Finding a pulse, he sighed and backed away. After taking in the extent of the damage from his outburst, the lost boy dug around until he had located his traveling gear, and then proceeded to get lost with as much haste as possible.
Akane made her way out of the park, pausing to shift Copy-kun to a fireman's carry as she reached the sidewalk, and tried to come to terms with what she had just seen. She remembered all too well the events of the koi fishing rod. Despite Ryouga's later explanations, that he had not believed the rod really worked and that he had not hooked Ranma intentionally, she still remembered the many times she had stumbled across Ryouga and Ranma in very compromising positions. She had even heard Ryouga confess his true feelings to Ranma after freeing his rival from the effects of the koi rod. Copy-chan had reminded Akane, painfully, of what Ranma had been like under the compulsion to love Ryouga. More than once, Akane had wondered if Ryouga's antipathy towards Ranma stemmed from the fact that he had fallen in love with his rival's girl side. Ryouga had to know it would never work. Ranma was just not like that. She hoped. Then there was Copy-chan. Naturally, an all girl version of Ranma would show up when Ryouga was trying to build a relationship with his new girlfriend Akari.
From the detonation of a full shishihokodan, it was obvious that Ryouga was utterly devastated. That, more than anything, suggested that things were not quite how they appeared. Not that it really explained what had happened.
Poor Akari! She had given her heart entirely to Ryouga, and more than once her love for the lost boy had been frustrated by the strange relationship between Ryouga and Ranma. There could not be anything real there, Akane tried to tell herself, but Ryouga managed to betray himself at the worst possible times. Unfortunately, Ranma always helped create those situations, by interfering with Ryouga. She tried not to wonder why her fiancé might go to such extremes to mess with Ryouga, without some really perverted reason.
Seeing Akari leaning against her giant pig, further down the side walk, she decided to go over and try to comfort her. Without warning, Kuno's body burst through the trees, flying towards the horizon overhead. Akane tracked the kendoist's flight, and decided that had to have been Ranma's work. That meant that it had been Copy-chan in Ryouga's passionate embrace. Poor Akari. This was going to take a lot of explaining. Of course, this was not the first time something like this had happened. When she had witnessed Ryouga crushing Ranma-chan in his arms, shouting "I love you" almost immediately after Ryouga stopped taking offense at Akari's love of pigs, she had run away believing Ryouga was in love with another woman. The fact that Ryouga had simply responded to a subliminal command Ranma had implanted in the lost boy to break the ice on their date, had not made it any better. She did not think that had ever been explained, so Akari probably still believed there was another girl. Dreading the prospect of trying to explain, Akane concentrated on just distracting Akari for the moment.
"Akari-chan," she waved to the other girl. "Could I borrow your pig to help carry this jerk home? If you would come along and stay for tea, I might be able to explain what just happened back there," she offered. She was not sure if Akari understood about Ranma's curse. She certainly did not know about Copy-chan. Explaining Ryouga's action would require Akane to reveal the truth about both of them, though she would just be guessing at what it all really meant.
"Oh, Akane Tendo! Hi. I, uh… Sure. Katsunishiki would be glad to help. I… I think it would be a good idea to sit down and do some thinking too. That is, if Ryouga isn't there. I don't know if I could deal with that right now."
"Things aren't what they seem," she assured with a friendly smile. The explosion of heavy chi was enough to promise that. "If I know Ryouga, he's probably headed for Okinawa by now." Akari just nodded numbly. Akane could tell the girl was not ready to talk, and probably did not even want to think about what she had just seen.
While the two girls lifted Copy-chan's unconscious form to Katsunishiki's back, and tied him down, Ranma was rushing back to find out what had happened to Copy-chan. Ranma-chan entered the clearing to find her twin stark naked and unconscious in the middle of one of Ryouga's craters.
"Oh great. Ryouga probably thought she was me and attacked her," he crouched down to check her vital signs. She was hot and flushed, but her pulse and breathing were both strong. "At least you're alright. For a sec there, I was afraid Kuno was tryin' to kill you," Ranma muttered to the girl. Reminding herself to pay the lost boy back for leaving her alone in this condition, Ranma-chan picked her double up and cradled her close to her body. She paused a moment, wondering if she should check on Akane and Ukyo, but she decided it was safer to not risk confronting Akane with the naked girl in her arms. Rushing out of the park, and taking to the rooftops, she made her best speed back to the Tendo Dojo.
Upon arriving at the dojo, the girl was still out cold, so Ranma-chan took her into the furo. They were both covered in grime from their fights, and Ranma could not think of any reason not to bathe both of them at the same time. Though Copy-chan was all girl, her body was no mystery to Ranma. She did not bother with hot water, or a soak in the furo, since Copy-chan was in no condition to be immersed in a bath. She was dressed, and had slipped her copy into a spare set of pajamas, by the time Akane and Akari arrived. She was carrying the girl upstairs when they came in, bearing an equally unconscious Copy-kun. Nabiki, who had met the girls on her way out to the park and come back with them, led Akari into the tea room while Akane followed Ranma-chan upstairs.
Akari had seen all three Ranmas during the shuffle, but a surprised look was the limit of her immediate reaction. Ukyo showed up, looking a little worse for wear as Akane and Ranma-chan returned from upstairs. The clones were safely laid out in separate rooms to recover from the Kunos' drugs, so the gang gathered around the table to relax.
Akari was glaring at Ranma-chan, wringing her hands under the table. Akane, sitting next to her, leaned in and whispered. "It wasn't hi… uh, her. It was the other one, the girl upstairs."
"Why are there two of you?" Akari demanded. "Does Ryouga love her?"
"Um. The first part is kinda complicated," Ranma-chan began. "What, uh… what happened between Copy-chan and Ryouga?"
"You didn't see it?" Akane rolled her eyes, not wanting to mention what happened in front of Akari.
"I was too busy fighting Kuno. When I got around to looking for her, Ryouga had blasted her with his shishihokodan."
Akari remembered that the other red-head had been unconscious when they arrived. "Ryouga did that? I don't understand. They were kissing when I got there. Why would he knock her out?"
"Probably because she kissed him. She's, um… sort of a nymphomaniac. She keeps jumping people," Ranma grumbled, blushing.
Akari looked down into her lap, thinking. "She's very pretty, and I've seen Ryouga get carried away with her before. Or was that you?" she looked into Ranma-chan's eyes.
"Um, he's gotten weird with me a few times. But I ain't interested! I am not like that. Stupid koi rod!" Ranma's mind wandered off. She had eventually remembered the whole ordeal, and it still creeped her out that Ryouga would try and mess with her like that. Kuno was one thing, but Ryouga knew she was really a guy. Of course he had laughed with envy when he had first learned of her curse. Thanks to Ryouga, Ranma had been forced to understand that, because the plumbing existed, part-time or no, some guys would see her as a girl in spite of the truth. "My, uh… twin hasn't been around long enough for any kind of relationship with Ryouga, though she seems to end up kissing him a lot. I am sure what ever you saw was her fault."
"Do you think so?" Akari looked hopeful, hands clasped below her chin.
"Even if Ryouga has a crush on her, she's leaving for good at the end of the week. He'll never see her again, and I ain't gonna let anything like that go on between me and him!" Ranma-chan declared hotly.
Akari nodded and then looked at Akane, "I almost forgot to ask, is Ranma-kun okay?" She had, after all, helped bring Akane's fiancée home from the park and seen her carry him upstairs. Naturally she was surprised when Ranma-chan answered automatically.
"Sheesh! I'm fine. Kuno'll never be a match for me!"
"Idiot," Nabiki breathed, while sipping her tea.
"Ano, I was talking about Akane's fiancé," Akari tried to clarify.
"Heh, that was our fathers' idea. Hell, thanks to my Pops, I am probably engaged to half the people in Tokyo!" Ranma fumed as Akane put her head in her hands. Akari leaned close to Akane and spoke in a stage whisper.
"Is she always like this?"
Ranma stared at the girls in confusion. All of a sudden she realized that, while Akari knew about Ryouga's curse, she was oblivious to Ranma's. Stiffening in alarm, she tried to cover it up, rubbing the back of her head and laughing nervously, "Uh, hahaha! I was just kidding you know. I'm not Ranma, of course! I'm Ranko! I wouldn't want to be engaged to a violent tomboy like Akane! Oh no! Heheheheh… Ite!" She was cut off as Akane dropped the hammer on her.
"And I wouldn't want to be engaged to a perverted jerk like you!"
Akari reeled back in surprise.
"Some people never learn," Nabiki sighed.
The sound of movement upstairs caught their attention before anything more could be said between Akane and Ranma.
"Uh oh. It sounds like they've woken up."
"We better go check on them," Ranma-chan bounced to her feet.
When Akane and Ranma arrived upstairs, with the others close behind them, they found the door to Akane's room open, and the shoji leading to the guestroom closed. Sweeping it open, they saw the copies struggling to undress each other without breaking from a heated kiss. Nabiki's camera was out, clicking and whirring before the others could gasp. Akane was as quick as ever to produce the pervert-pulverizer, but the two just rolled around in their passionate embrace, unwittingly dodging as she struck.
"Wow, I guess she has this effect on a lot of guys," Akari murmured in astonishment. Despite her normal, feminine demeanor, she stood there wide eyed, taking mental notes on how to apply these techniques in her own pursuit of Ryouga, instead of showing the expected outrage personified by Akane. Ukyo stood there shaking her head and clucking her tongue. It took a cold bucket of water to get the couple's attention, by which point their clothes were safe from such dousing, scattered all over the room. While Akane and Ranma rushed them back into their clothes, Nabiki put away her camera and led Akari and Ukyo downstairs. Akane and the Ranmas soon joined them.
"We can't even leave you alone unconscious! What is it with you two!? Wasn't a date with each other and the Kunos enough to satisfy you?" Ranma-chan nagged the sheepish pair.
"I can't help it. Whatever Kuno was feeding me gave me all these weird urges!" Copy-chan protested, as her opposite nodded in agreement.
"Those two are psycho! The least someone could have done was warn us!" Copy-kun grumbled, as he flopped down at the table. He joined Copy-chan in glaring at Ranma, having long since reached the conclusion that the Kunos had been drawn to them because of the original. "What have you done with those two to get them so obsessed with you!?"
"I didn't do nothin'! They're both just crazy!" Ranma retorted.
"How could you set us up with them!?"
"It wasn't me! It was Nabiki's idea. She thought she could get them off my back, and split you two up by arranging this. I had nothing to do with it!" The duplicates looked at Nabiki, who was looking innocent and shocked at the accusation, and returned their disbelieving glares to Ranma-chan. The two proceeded to pound on Ranma as payback for setting the pair of psychos on them. When Ranma-chan was reduced to incoherent mumblings of pain, they sat back and huffed.
"I don't care if you threaten to kill us again. There's no way I'm going to have anything to do with that Kodachi again!"
"I'd rather die than so much as speak to Kuno again. And that goes for following you to school anymore. No way! Not as long as he's gonna be there!" Copy-chan crossed her arms. She was pretty hazy about what happened at the end of the date, but whatever it was frightened her to the bone.
Ranma perked up. "Do you meant it?" He sagged in relief when they nodded vigorously. "Well. I can't let you out of going to school, or I have to cut too. Pops will kill me if I do that. Kodachi might still be a problem, but you have my permission to clobber Kuno on sight, that okay with you?"
"Sure. I'll make him hate me if it's the last thing I do!" Copy-chan swore.
"You'd be doing everyone a favor!" Ranma assured, smiling brightly. "Except for Nabiki. Kuno's her best customer." The clones looked at him in confusion. Ranma pulled a stack of pictures he had "liberated" from one of his classmates after lunch. Wordlessly, he handed them to the couple. They looked at them in shock, seeing images from the night before. There were dozens of shots of Ranma-chan and Copy-chan in various states of wearing lingerie, a few snaps of both copies in the furo together, and scenes of their combat with Ranma from later that evening.
"What's this all about?"
"Hey, a girl's got to make a living somehow," Nabiki smiled. Before Ranma could waste any more effort trying to convince them of her nefarious doings, she admitted that she had sold some information to the Kuno siblings which might have precipitated their decision to propose dating the couple. "I certainly didn't arrange the dates. I just let them know that the two of you might return their affection if they could earn your trust. You two can't have a real relationship together, right?"
"I'm not sure what we have together, but it's a hell of a lot better than any kind of involvement with them," Copy-chan brooded. Still, part of Nabiki's point got through. For whatever reason, she found her thoughts revolving around Ryouga. She could remember a brief moment in his arms, sharing a most glorious kiss. "I might be interested in finding someone else, I just don't know if he's really interested."
Akari turned and glared at Copy-chan.
Akane cut in at once, "I don't think you should be thinking about starting any kind of relationships. Ranma has enough trouble without you two going and starting things with people while you are here. It's not fair to leave Ranma to deal with all of that!"
"What are you talking about!?"
"You don't seriously think you're going to be around long enough for anything serious to happen, do you? You both go back at the end of the week." Ranma glared at the duplicates until they both looked away. It would have been hard to say which of the three was the most upset and disturbed at the moment. The situation seemed cruel and unfair to all of them, and threatened to make them think about things they did not want to. Things that had gone unsaid about who and what they were, or should be, to each other.
Later that evening, as Ranma was getting ready for bed, the copies sought him out. The three of them had dropped out of the conversation, wandering outside to think while Akane, Ukyo and Nabiki talked to Akari about her relationship with Ryouga. Something about the mood affecting the trio had kept even Ukyo from pressing them with her attention. She had finally left, with Akari, resolving to have a serious talk with each of them when she could get them alone. They had remained subdued through dinner. Food might have roused them from their depression, but Genma had limited his food fighting to Copy-kun, ignoring the other two. Ranma had plummeted back into a deep funk at this silent rejection, dragging the other two down after him. The copies did not even realize that they withered under the implied disapproval of their existence. Ranma was almost aware of feeling terrible for holding their origins in him against them. He just could not completely separate them from himself. That made it harder for him to threaten them with banishment. His conscience kept asking him how he would feel if the people around him wished he did not even exist.
As they crept into his room, he sighed. Did he hate them? He looked up. They drove him crazy. They were impossible to control, but he could not hate them without hating himself. "Why does this stuff always happen to me?" he asked under his breath. Shaking his head, he raised his voice, "What do you want now?"
"Sex…" Copy-kun began, forgetting how he was going to bring up the subject they had agreed to question Ranma about. Ranma was lunging for his throat before he could even form the question on his mind.
"Stop it!" Copy-chan darted between the boys, ending up face to face with Ranma, and between his arms. Ranma recoiled, scuttling back to the wall. She half turned and slapped her compatriot on the head, "That wasn't what you were supposed to say!"
"Ow! It wasn't supposed to come out like that," he rubbed his head and looked at Ranma. "I meant, well, sex is what you're all afraid of, right? That's what you don't want me and her trying to do."
Ranma considered this for a moment and relaxed. He remembered feeling, for a moment, the desire to open up to Ukyo at school. He was also feeling bad about getting so angry with the copies when he knew they could not help themselves. Swallowing, he decided to do something he rarely considered. Talk. With a deep breath, he confided, "I don't even care to talk about sex. I don't wanna think about it. But how can I avoid it with the two of you running around tryin' one stupid thing after another?"
The couple sighed. Copy-chan looked at him, "It took us a while to figure out that this was about sex, not love. I still don't understand why they're connected, or, why 'making love' or 'having sex' is such a bad thing."
"It… it's not, really. It's a good thing, if you love someone. If you're a normal guy or a normal girl. But if you're like me…" Ranma trailed off. He shook his head. "That's the problem with Kuno and Kodachi. They don't see me as a person. I am an object to them, a thing to play with, to make their sick fantasies come true. They're dangerous, because they don't know the meaning of the word 'love' and almost as little about sex. They want to possess, control, conquer, cuz that's all they understand."
"You don't need to tell us that it's dangerous to mess with those two. But, you have to tell us why you… what you…" Copy-chan uttered a strangled scream of frustration. She bowed her head, daring her own confession. "We're so lonely. We're only here because of you, but because of you we're not even real people to anyone. I… I have all these feelings, these desires I don't understand, and they're all I have to go on. But if I follow where they lead, you… everyone gets upset. I can't take it."
Copy-kun put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back against his chest. Ranma was staring at them, shock and disbelief mixing with some hint of sympathy. "I don't remember anything before stepping out of the mirror," he volunteered. "For me, the world begins with seeing her. Seeing her joy at my appearance. For one moment, I had a reason to exist, and the promise of fulfillment. Since then, things have gone to hell."
"You've got that right," Ranma sighed.
"I never meant to… do… what I did to you, Ranma. You say you're a guy. That being a girl is your curse. I just can't help seeing her when I look at you in that form. To me, you are a copy of her, not the other way around. She's the real thing, and I… I want her. Because I am lonely and she's the one person I can trust." He looked away before continuing, "I can't tell you how horrible it was to be with her, to hold her and kiss her, and then find out it was you."
"How do you think I felt, huh!?"
"I can't imagine. The idea of actually being a girl is too… weird… for me to really understand. I would hate to be in your place. At the same time, it's… I dunno. It's kinda neat!"
"You've gotta be kidding me! You freaked out when you thought you would have the curse too!"
"Yeah. I did. It's okay for a girl to be a girl, but… how can a guy be a girl without giving up being a guy? Wouldn't I just be a girl who only thought she was a guy? A girl who couldn't deal with what she was?"
Ranma flinched, but understood the thought too well. In the darker hours of his life, he found himself asking questions like that. "So what is that supposed to mean!? You think I'm a girl pretending to be a guy!?"
"Only when you're a girl, Ranma. I am sorry, I know you don't wanna hear somethin' like that, but… that's just how my mind deals with it. I could not have touched you like that if I saw you as a guy," he shrugged.
"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better," Ranma growled.
"Ranma," Copy-chan slipped away from her counterpart and approached the original. "I'm not a guy, I've never even considered I could be a guy, even if I come from you. Yin and Yang, it's a part of all of us, so I don't understand why you can't deal with being a girl. I don't understand, but I think that's the reason you can't stand the idea of me having sex with him."
"What are you talking about?"
"You said it the other night, you don't think we're real people. We're parts of you and even if we're both being controlled by the ghost of some dead woman, it's still you that's involved. Right?"
Ranma stared at them, pondering. "Maybe."
"And so what's really bothering you is that it would be like you having sex with yourself if we did it."
Ranma nodded hesitantly.
"So, we want to know what's wrong with that?"
"Do you have to have it explained to you!" Ranma was incredulous.
"Yes. Exactly."
Ranma opened his mouth to give them an earful of reasons, but suddenly he could not really think of any. The truth was, the situation supposedly could never actually come up. Only in his case, it was a constant shadow over him. He tried to avoid facing the fact that he was as much female as he was male. Thanks to Kuno's warped imagination, he had been forced to picture one with the other and in that moment, one side confronting the other, had not known which side he was supposed to be on. Just trying to imagine it had left him feeling torn in two. He had experienced the same agony, ten times over, when he saw the two of them making out before lunch. Taking a shaking breath, he tried to put his fear into words, "I am afraid that it would tear me apart."
They stared at him in shock.
"There's more. I can't explain it, but every time he put the moves on me, it was like he sucked the guy right out of me," he muttered, staring into the corner of the room. "Because of you," he flicked a glare at Copy-kun, "I really did become a girl…" Ranma curled up, hugging his knees to his chest.
"When… when that happened, when you felt like that, did you hate it?" Copy-chan asked, hoping to make her point.
"No. I loved it. That's the problem," Ranma sighed.
"I don't understand."
"You don't know about the promise to my mother," Ranma lowered his head. While Ranma was very uneasy about admitting to embracing his femininity, it was not a unique occurrence. Who he was really did not change that much according to gender. He had learned that from the koi fishing rod experience. Pretending to be Ranko had led to an occasional lapse as well. His mother had helped encourage the girl in him, and if she ever learned the truth, would kill him for it. Pulling himself together, he sat down and explained his father's promise to his mother.
AN: While at least one person has claimed that the "Two Ranmas" story arc takes place after Nodoka learned the truth, this is not correct. In the original manga, the truth finally comes out in Volume 36 (Parts 3-8). Also, one notable complaint against the premise of the copies being "just like Ranma" has been made. This is not from lack of imagination, but because the connection of the copies to Ranma is important to the story that evolves from here. Some of you will note the brief glimpse of the creation of the Nyannichaun, and yes, this has been explored in dozens of stories before this. Rather than worry about being totally original, I am more interested in using the ideas I have to tell the story I have in mind. It's not about the pieces, but how they all fit together, really…